1992 Rap music killer 19-year-old Ronald Ray Howard kills a state trooper who stopped him for a broken headlight. He claimed the anti-police rap music he was listening to made him do it. He was convicted and executed for the crime.

1989 Ritual sacrifice The bodies of 15 people, mutilated by cultists, are discovered in Matamoros, Mexico. The victims, including a 21-year-old Univ. of Texas student, were killed as part of a ritual to protect drug smugglers from the police.

1979 Uganda President Idi Amin is overthrown by Yusufu Lule. Two days later Lule was sworn in as president.

1968 Civil Rights Pres. Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act, making housing discrimination illegal.

1962 New York Mets They play their first game, losing to St. Louis (11-4).

1961 Adolf Eichmann The German SS officer, who organized the transportation of Jews to concentration camps for "the final solution" during World War II, goes on trial in Israel for war crimes. He was found guilty in December and hanged the following May.

1951 Korean War Pres. Truman relieves Gen. Douglas MacArthur of all command for making unauthorized statements.

1947 First black to play in a major-league baseball game Jackie Robinson plays in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the New York Yankees. Source: Famous First Facts

1921 First state cigarette tax Iowa legalizes the sale of cigarettes in that state and levies a tax of $1 per 1,000 cigarettes.

1921 Boxing First U.S. radio broadcast of a boxing match. Source: Famous First Facts

1816 First black church in the U.S The African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia opens. Also, the first black bishop in the U.S., Rev. Richard Allen, is ordained to head the church.

1713 Queen Anne's War The Treaty of Utrecht signed ending the war.

1945 Citation d. 1970 thoroughbred race horse, 1948 Triple Crown winner, and the first race horse to win $1,000,000 (1951).

1939 Louise Lasser American actress. TV: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (title role).

1933 Tony Brown American journalist. TV: Black Journal (host, moderator).

1932 Joel Grey (Joel Katz), American Oscar-Tony-winning actor. Broadway: Cabaret (1966, Tony, as the emcee). Film: Cabaret (1972, Oscar, as the emcee).

1931 Johnny Sheffield American actor. Film: He played Boy in the Tarzan movies of the 1940s and later starred in the Bomba the Jungle Boy (1949-55) movies.

1930 Nicholas F. Brady American banker, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

1918 Cameron Mitchell American actor. TV: High Chaparral (Buck Cannon).

1914 Norman McLaren Scottish-born film animator. Film: Neighbors (1952, Oscar), in which he animated actual actors by filming them one frame at time while slightly changing their positions.

1913 Oleg Cassini d. 2006 French-born fashion and costume designer. He was the official couturier to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

1905 Pauline Tabor Webster d. 1992 Kentucky's most famous brothel owner. She ran the Clay Street Brothel in Bowling Green, Kentucky for 38 years. Autobiography: Pauline's - Memoirs of the Madame on Clay Street.

1755 James Parkinson d. 1824 English surgeon. He described the disease of shaking palsy (1817), which now bears his name. He was also one of the first to give a scientific account of fossils.

146 Lucius Septimius Severus d. 211 Roman Emperor (193-211).

1992 James L. Brown b. 1920 American actor. TV: The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (Lt. Rip Masters).

1987 Erskine Caldwell b. 1903 American author. Writings: Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933).

1983 Dolores Del Rio b. 1905 Mexican actress. Film: Maria Candelaria (1943) and The Fugitive (1947).

1926 Luther Burbank b. 1849 American naturalist. He created hundreds of new breeds of flowers, plants, and trees, including the Russet Burbank Potato (1872), which launched the Idaho potato industry.

1906 James Anthony Bailey b. 1847 American showman, Barnum's partner, owner of Jumbo, the giant elephant.

1906 Francis Pharcellus Church b. 1839 American editor, author of Is There a Santa Clause? (1897).

1890 John Merrick b. 1862 (Joseph Carey Merrick), The Elephant Man. In 2003, DNA testing showed that he actually suffered from Proteus Syndrome.

1873 Edward Richard Sprigg Canby b. 1817 American general. He was killed by Indian leader Captain Jack while negotiating an Indian surrender. He was the only U.S. general killed fighting Indians.

678 Donus b. ???? Italian religious leader, 78th Pope (676-678).

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